He also repeated the party’s belief in “the ultimate integration of the African continent through erosion and eventual elimination of unnecessary borders to build a united Africa,” and their quest for “free quality decolonised education”.
The EFF must ‘capture the state’ – Malema
The EFF leader brought up several discussion documents that will be tabled at the party's upcoming elective conference.
EFF leader Julius Malema. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema briefed the media on Thursday on the party’s upcoming elective conference, which will take place at Nasrec in December, telling those in attendance that they “must win political power from those who have it now, capture the state, take the economy and redistribute it equally amongst all people”.
The EFF leader mentioned discussion documents on a range of issues which have been distributed to all EFF members and will be tabled at the conference, explaining that they would not be adopted as official EFF policy until after they had been debated by the party’s members.
According to Malema, working out how the party can “capture the state” is one of the “key highlights” of the documents, which seek to work out “how the EFF ought and should be positioned as an impactful political party of the working class”.
He went on to explain that the discussion documents include issues such as agrarian and land reform; gender struggles; the media – including a “critique of South African journalism and Stratcom phenomenon”; pan-Africanism and the party’s repeated call for open borders in Africa; the side-lining and marginalisation of black professionals at state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – in what is probably a reference to the appointment of new Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter on Monday; health; education; the economy; and more.
READ MORE: ‘No one owns a position,’ says Malema ahead of EFF elective conference
Malema brought up EFF talking points such as the party’s belief that De Ruyter’s appointment, as well as others at SOEs, are part of the ANC’s “coordinated and deliberate” plan “to break these companies so that they can privatise them”.
At the beginning of his speech, Malema also did not miss an opportunity to take a swipe at the party’s enemies, including the media, warning the upcoming elective conference’s delegates not to “fall victim of agent provocateurs, information pedlars, and spies whose intentions are not consistent with building an organisation that is a weapon in the hands of the black people, the working class and the poor in South Africa, Africa and the diaspora”.
Malema made it clear at a previous media briefing that all positions within the EFF’s leadership will be up for grabs at the conference.
There has been speculation that members including deputy president Floyd Shivambu, secretary-general Godrich Gardee, and national chairperson Dali Mpofu may lose their positions – although it has also been reported that some within the EFF want Mpofu to become the party’s new deputy president, replacing Shivambu.
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